1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a cutting device mainly for metal machining. In more detail, they relate to a metal cutting chop saw for cutting material as a metal pipe etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
A cutting device for metal machining has an electric motor serving as a drive source, a circular grinding wheel or a chip saw serving as a cutting blade, a base on which a material to be cut is placed, and a tool main body that is vertically movable above the base and supported by the base. Further, the cutting device has a vise device for fixing a material to be cut on an upper surface of the base (a mounting surface of a material to be cut). A cutting device relating to the above is described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. H05-16051 and Japanese Patent No. 3676928 as prior art.
The vise device has a fence for contacting a material to be cut and positioning the material on the surface of the base. The vise also has a vise main body for fixedly pressing the material to be cut against the fence. The fence can be moved along the surface of the base. Accordingly, a fixing position and direction of the material to be cut can be arbitrarily changed by the vise device.
According to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. H05-16051, in order to move the fence, a fixing screw must be loosened by an appropriate angle in a special manner, for example, using a hand tool such as wrench etc. and the fixing screw must be fastened again. This troublesome operation will be avoided by an invention disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3676928. Japanese Patent No. 3676928 discloses a structure for fixing a fence without any specific tool (termed a tool-less construction) in which a rotational operation of an operational lever by a specific angle can rapidly change a position of the fence in order to fix the fence.
Compared to a table circular saw for wood machining that is provided with a tool-less construction as described above, a reduction in manufacturing cost may be required in a cutting device for metal machining. Thus, in a cutting device for metal machining, a base on which a material to be cut is placed is mainly manufactured using metal sheet parts such as a bent steel plate due to cost reduction. Because of this, sufficient accuracy in flatness etc. of the upper surface of the base is not necessarily obtained due to welding strains etc. Thus, it may occur that the base is wave-formed with a slight unevenness. As a result, in the case that a position of the fence is changed by applying the above-described tool-less structure to the base made of metal sheet parts, unevenness in a fastening position of the operation lever may occur. In this way, there has been a problem that the operability of the operational lever and usability of the cutting device may be worsened.
Thus, there is a need in the art such that operability of the operational lever is improved when a position of the fence is changed, whereby operability and usability of the cutting device can be improved.